City of Witches

Just like any other day, Siwoo woke up from his peaceful slumber.

He understood the importance of sleep for both humans and spirits like himself; It enhanced the quality of life.

With drowsy eyes, he stepped into the living, expecting to see Sharon there.

“Sharon?”

He called out.

Usually, at this time, she’d be already sitting on the sofa, browsing through delivery apps to pick their breakfast.

But, for some reason, he didn’t receive any response this time. Concerned, he checked her room, only to find no one there.

“Where did she go?”

He saw that her phone was still on the table, so he assumed that she probably went outside to get some air.

Then, he went to the bathroom, washed his face and changed his clothes.

“…It feels like we’re a couple or something.”

As he sat back down on the sofa, the thoughts of Sharon’s whereabouts occupied his mind; The sense of longing and curiosity.

It baffled him that he just casually tried to search for his housemate as soon as he woke up, as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world.

Not to mention that said housemate was a strikingly beautiful woman of mixed heritage.

Then, he reprimanded himself for having a wild imagination, like that of a teenage boy going through puberty.

Well, despite them living together, they didn’t share any romantic relationship at all. No suggestive incidents¹basically lucky sukebe, things that you’d see in animes or mangas, like how the MC accidentally open up a door to see a girl’s naked and stuff happened either.

“No, wait, now that I think about it… There are quite a few…”

As he pondered more carefully, he was reminded that those moments exist.

For instance, because of Sharon’s carefree nature, she’d roam around the apartment without wearing a bra before going to sleep or after waking up. This made him unsure of where to direct his gaze.

There was also the time when he found her underwear when he was taking out the laundry from the washing machine and using the dryer at the nearby laundromat. Both instances made him inexplicably flustered (Also, the first time this happened, he discovered that her bra size was E-cup).

And there were also various moments where he could hear her humming while showering. Her voice was carried over from the bathroom all the way to the living room.

The more he tried to dig through his memories, the more he remembered similar things.

Though, he really couldn’t classify those events as ‘suggestive incidents’ because of one crucial factor; Sharon didn’t see him as a man.

“It’s dumb of me to even think about it that way…”

After taking a sip of water, Siwoo decided to clean the room thoroughly for once.

Interestingly enough though, this served as a form of practice for him.

Among his belongings, Ea Sadalmelik’s ribbon, the Maiden’s Loom was mixed in there.

He could try to control while cleaning as a form of practice.

With the concealment effect of the music box, he spread out the four strands of ribbon from his back and began tidying up the room.

Although having the four strands of ribbon that could be used like hands like this almost seemed like one could do two people worth of work, the progress was incredibly slow.

He could handle one no problem, it was as if he had an extra arm. But when he increased the number to more than two, they’d start to tangle up, just like when one was juggling and their arms somehow got twisted.

This became a remainder to him of just how powerful Ea exactly was. After all, she managed to handle dozens of those ribbons with ease, as if they were part of her body.

After spending a long time cleaning, the time for his magic class was approaching, but Sharon hadn’t returned.

“Did she go to the Witch Point?”

But, he knew more than anyone that Sharon was always punctual and never missed the class starting time.

‘She’ll probably be back within thirty minutes… No way she’s coming back late.’

While waiting, he thought about buying her bubble tea as a treat for Sharon.

It seemed like she had been obsessed with it lately, and he thought that it’d be a nice gesture.

“Should I go for a walk and grab some?”

Sharon wasn’t the type to offer him tips in her lessons, as she preferred to keep her expertise a secret. But, he thought that maybe she’d crack with a treat.

With his hands in his pocket, Siwoo casually stepped outside.

In truth Siwoo wasn’t a fan of bubble tea.

His taste had been moulded by his previous life as a slave, where he had to suffer through bland soups and hard bread that could have been used as a weapon. Though he managed to adapt to eating practically anything, he still couldn’t appreciate the texture of bubble tea.

They felt squishy like frog eggs, and it simply didn’t sit well with him.

This made him wonder, how the hell did those people who’d be grossed out by actual frog eggs enjoyed those bubble tea.

Placing a cup of bubble tea in the cup holder, he sipped on his iced Americano as he strolled down the street.

“Man, it’s hot out here…”

‘I should’ve just ordered delivery instead.’

‘If I walk around this place, I swear the ice in this bubble tea will melt…’

-Boom!

As he walked on the steaming hot pavement, he sensed an unusual, abrupt tremor.

His heart tightened for a second, but quickly relaxed as he identified its origin.

A powerful surge of mana.

It wasn’t any ordinary surge of mana, though.

The wave it made wasn’t significant, but it emitted a deep vibration that caused his body to subtly tremble.

He realized that something big had just happened.

“What was that?”

He wondered, feeling that trouble always found its way to him whenever he went for a walk.

Almost immediately, he quickly raised his eyepatch.

Using his golden eye that was able to read the flow of mana, he scanned his surroundings.

If a shock of this magnitude was a natural occurrence, there would be no way the surroundings stay quiet like this.

At the very least, a commotion would happen.

But, the passersby didn’t even have a change in their expressions.

In other words, it was highly likely that this surge of mana was something that had breached an Interdimensional Barrier.

Although an Interdimensional Barrier seemed to be a complex structure that replicated and overlapped with another world, it ultimately stood as a space where both illusionary realm and physical world existed, much like leaves floating on the water’s surface.

Within less than a minute of scanning, Siwoo managed to find a spot where the flow of mana was disrupted.

Under an old tunnel designed to allow cars and people to pass. Below a certain railway track.

“Fuck.”

Suddenly, he felt uneasy.

And he couldn’t shake off the feeling.

Something clearly had happened, and if possible, he wanted to steer clear of any unexpected mishaps.

Even his guardian, Sharon, had been missing without any traces.

Rationally speaking, in this situation, the best course of action would be for him to go back home.

There was a chance that Sharon might have already gone home, and if that was the case, there was no need for both of them to get entangled in the chaos.

Nevertheless, there was a reason behind his uneasy feeling, behind his hesitation on whether to head to the tunnel or not.

The timing of Sharon’s sudden disappearance coincided quite well with this incident.

In other, Siwoo was pretty sure that the probability of him finding her there was incredibly high.

“Why do I always get stuck in these goddamn situations…”

He made a resolution to see a fortune-teller after this mess was over.

After that, he took the music box from his pocket.

‘I’ll take a peek and run.’

If Sharon wasn’t there, or if the danger seemed to be too much for him to handle, he’d run away immediately.

“Bloom.”

Kicking the guardrail, Siwoo chanted his spell.

Upon entering the Interdimensional Barrier, he was met with a surreal sight. The world was engulfed in blazing crimson flames that consumed the skyscrapers, while the blue sky was painted black.

2.

Sensing an eerie vibe, Siwoo peeked through the gap in his helmet to survey his surroundings.

Every tall building was on fire.

If this were to happen in real life, it’d make the headlines for years.

The tunnel itself was undoubtedly the epicenter of the destruction, as the place turned into a literal hellscape.

It was as if a volcano had erupted from below the asphalt, it went up and pried the ceilings open, emanating a blazing red light and scorching heat akin to a furnace.

“Cough! Fuck… This is crazy…!”

Siwoo coughed heavily, having unintentionally inhaled the hot air.

The heat wasn’t something he had ever experienced before; Far hotter than any sauna he ever visited.

He was a hundred meters away from the tunnel, but he was still overwhelmed by it.

If he were to move forward in such conditions, he’d just be burned to death immediately, unable to identify the source of this disaster at all.

But, this phenomenon only happened for a brief moment.

Suddenly, the flames quieted down and vanished, followed by a deathly silence.

The intense heat also subsided, as if it had been whisked away somewhere.

Siwoo finally made a step forward, cautiously.

He had already put on his armor, just in case a fight broke out.

With enhanced physical abilities and some defensive measures, he maximized the output of the music box and suppressed his presence completely.

The asphalt on the ground was still in its molten state, as they were stuck on his boots.

His sight was blocked by the rising haze that came from the ground, making him unable to see what was beneath the tunnel.

Only when he got within the twenty meters range did he notice it.

A witch, dressed in red, forcibly dragged Sharon with her.

He knew that it was dangerous to face that witch.

Especially when she was seemingly able to defeat Sharon.

There was a huge chance that she was a notorious witch even among the Exiles.

And, if she were able to overpower Sharon, whose rank was even higher than himself, that meant the witch wasn’t someone that he could handle.

“Bloom!”

Facing this scene, Siwoo didn’t waste a single moment of thought.

Sharon was in an obviously bad state.

Her autonomous defense seemed to be barely working, so she still hadn’t lost her life yet, but she was only a moment away from being abducted.

Siwoo wasn’t great at planning things in this kind of urgent situation.

Trying to figure out how to rescue Sharon while considering her condition was the extent of what Siwoo could think of.

He couldn’t throw a shadow spear since Sharon could get caught in it. But, he also couldn’t rush in directly to grab her, since there was a good chance that the witch in red would take her hostage instead.

Considering that the music box was still operating, he could launch a surprise attack.

Thus, came the question, what was his best method to concentrate his attacks only on his enemy, all while having the adaptability to change his course when necessary?

He created a ribbon from the Maiden’s Loom, mixing it with his shadow particles.

In an instant, the elongated ribbon wrapped around the red witch’s wrist.

He then swiftly pushed the witch in the opposite direction of Sharon.

That was a simple and small movement, but the outcome surprised Siwoo.

-Boooom!

The witch’s body flew through the air and crashed into the fiery red wall as sparks fell down like a shower.

It made a loud crashing sound that echoed multiple times within the narrow tunnel, making his ears ring.

“…What?”

‘It’s that powerful?’

He didn’t even infuse the ribbon with a lot of mana.

If he were to describe it, it felt like he was swinging his arm with just the right amount of force.

However, with that mere level of strength, the witch seemed to vanish at an incredible speed, as if she was swatted away by a heavy machinery.

“Are you okay?”

Siwoo quickly went to Sharon, who collapsed weakly on the floor, to check her breathing.

After a strenuous effort to open her eyes, Sharon stared at him with a tired look.

“Run… Away…”

“What the hell are you on about? Come here.”

Without even trying to get more details of the situation, Siwoo immediately began to cast Dimensional Shift.

Performing the teleportation magic wasn’t easy.

To successfully get away from this place and go to the place he desired, he needed time for at least ten seconds.

That was why, this was the best time to make a swift escape, as the witch was still trying to recover from his previous blow

-Wooosh!

But his plan was thwarted by flames that suddenly burst out of the road where he had inscribed the Dimensional Shift Formula.

“You’re so cheeky. So damn cheeky.”

The red witch walked calmly from inside the tunnel.

From the previous blow, her collision with the tunnel made a loud noise, despite her having a spiritual body.

But, there wasn’t a single crease on her clothes, let alone an injury.

There was only one thing that caused this.

Autonomous defense. A system that naturally manifested when a witch reached the 15th rank in hierarchy, the stage where they became able to manifest their own thoughts and magic harmoniously.

At its strongest, it could even withstand cannons from battleship, let alone mere collision with a wall. This was something that even Siwoo knew about.

“Who the hell are you? This is the first time I’ve ever seen magic like this.”

The red witch looked down at him with her crimson eyes.

‘Fuck.’

Meanwhile, Siwoo was experiencing a deja vu, feeling as if he had been in a similar situation before.

It reminded him of the time when he confronted Ea Sadalmelik to protect the twins.

Praying fervently, he amplified his mana, hoping to avoid history repeating itself.

Footnotes:

• 1basically lucky sukebe, things that you’d see in animes or mangas, like how the MC accidentally open up a door to see a girl’s naked and stuff